A Moment with You
by Unashamed1
Summary: Everyone knows that faithful service is followed by rewards.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I won nothing you recognize, and I make no money from this.

**A\N: ** Although this may not be needed, I'd like to say something, just to ease my own mind. Anyone that has been on my profile has probably noticed that I'm a follower of Christ (sometimes known as a "Christian") and that I also happen to be a Harry Potter fan. Biblical Christianity believes that Occult powers come from an evil source, and in writing for this part of the cite I am not trying to endorse them. What I love about this series are great characters and themes—and that alone is what I'm celebrating here. That said, I hope you enjoy:

A Moment with You

Chapter 1

"I'll check on the tents, and you keep an eye on Uncle Gordon!"

Lily Evans knelt down at the far end of the banister on the second floor and smiled as James' voice met her from the bottom of the stairs. She pinched the ends of a paper ring on the underside of the banister. It was just as well she'd overheard James' conversation. In less than five minutes, she would have had another task completed and nothing else to race off to.

"Alright, but you take Edgar with you and make sure he doesn't put anything in the punch!" James' cousin, Arena, called back to him from the yard. Lily heard James jog back out the door to find his new charge. It was just as well that he hadn't noticed her. He didn't need the distraction today.

"We need James," another of his cousins added. His name might have been Jacob. Lily couldn't remember. "Let's send Sirius to watch the kid, instead."

"Oh, right; now I feel secure." Arena left the laughter of the others behind her as Lily listened to the front door slam shut.

()

"Does anyone need me?" Lily scanned the yard, checking for waving arms. The section of the Potter's fifty-acre property closest to the house was covered with people, carrying chairs and flowers, calling out requests in passing and crossing awkwardly in front of each other.

"As always, darling," Lily's head jerked to the left and James kissed the corner of her mouth as he passed. Behind her, Sirius nodded in amused approval, but all Lily saw was Edgar's disgusted grimace as he pulled on his bow tie and trailed after James.

()

"Lily, dear!"

About an hour later, Lily was arranging a vase of red-and-pink roses on the gifts table in the corner of the tent and wondering if she would have enough time to wash the sweat off of her face before the ceremony. She could smell something sweet and thick from somewhere behind her--star-gazer lilies in full bloom. She let go of the last rose and spun around to watch Mrs. Potter striding toward her.

"What can I do for you?"

Mrs. Potter smiled and sighed.

"You've done more than enough, sweet."

"What do you need?" Lily insisted, with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

"The boys tell me that you're handy with Muggle sewing contraptions."

Lily had to swallow three times to smother a threatening chuckle.

"Yes, Ma'm. My mother taught me."

"Good," the tension in Mrs. Potter's demeanor slowly relaxed. "May I point you to the Bridesmaids' quarters? There was a bit of an incident with a hem—they're still getting used to those heels…"

"Right away." She was on her way back to the house before Mrs. Potter managed to say, 'thank you.'


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lily waved to the small group of girls in the bridesmaid's quarters as she left the room, and stopped at the doorway when one of them called to her.

She turned her head to reply, but was cut off by a sudden collision with something solid in front of her. She felt James' hands dart forward to steady her before she looked up at him.

"Traveling with purpose, I see," he noted, his mouth twitching. She considered not looking him in the eye. He was giving her that look that threatened to cause a melting sensation in her stomach-- the last thing that she could afford at the moment.

"A little too much purpose, apparently." She smiled but did her best to look past his eyes. The attempt met with only moderate success.

"Or just improperly timed." James seemed to remember that he was still holding her arms; his hands darted to his pockets. Lily glanced to her right and noticed for the first time that the girls had shut the dressing-room door. She looked over James' shoulder and realized that something was missing.

"Where did you leave Edgar?" She was a little surprised at the tone of her own voice; relaxed, border-line conversational. It was James' influence that did it—it must have been. She didn't need this right now.

"With Remus." James answered. "Greeting guests."

"That's a good compromise." It took Lily a few seconds to register the second half of that statement. "It's time for that already? Really?" Her tone was somewhere between causal conversation and business-like interest.

James smiled, and she fought the melting feeling in her stomach. The one that made her want to stand there with him all day. Damn Potter.

"I'll be down there with them in a minute."

Lily fought a smile and lost dismally.

"So why are you here now?"

She leaned into him instinctively as James picked her up and spun her in his arms. She was still holding his neck when he set her back down. He stood their comfortably for a moment, holding her, with her smile inches from his own.

"I saw you come back into the house." He paused a moment, drinking in the proximity of her eyes. "I promise that you and I will get some proper time when this is over." They pulled back from each other, but James was still holding her waist.

He took a moment and looked at her, rubbing an eyelet on the edge of her sleeve between his fingers. Coarse, light blue fabric that offered the illusion of lace trailed down her frame to mid-calf. His eyes stopped briefly on the black slippers she had been trotting around in all day.

"You're dressed." His voice was flat. She was smiling when he looked up and brushed a loose ringlet away from her eye.

"You just noticed?" she, asked, barely holding back laughter. "We really haven't seen enough of each other today." James chuckled as he reached to brush her hair away again. "If I'm nearly ready, I don't have to refuse a last-minute request or leave a minor emergency to change into different clothes and fix my hair. Besides," she continued, "You're dressed, too." James pulled on one side of his bowtie.

"Yes, but your version of 'dressed' is decidedly more…restricting."

Lily half-smiled, quirking her eyebrow. He admired the elegance in the gesture as she continued. "I know. That's why I left the heels at the end of the hall with the coats." She started toward the stairs, James close behind her. "Which reminds me: we'll need to un-lock that room again…and they may need more help outside." Her mind was returning to the tunnel it had been in all week, and there were still too many things at the end of it commanding her attention. As much as she regretted it, James would have to come later.

"We've got that covered," the Pleasant Distraction in question answered her from the section of stair to her left. "Sirius and Remus are already there. I'm on my way, and I'll be taking Edgar back, which will leave Remus free to smile and shake hands." James risked a look over at her and smiled. "Is it tiring just to hear that?"

"A little," Lily answered, chuckling. They had reached the door. The heat outside was starting to fade into muggy warmth. "I still have about a half-hour until the ceremony," she said, fixing her eyes on the end of the tunnel. "I don't need heels slowing me down until then."

"Slowing down?" James finally looked over at her. "When have you done that all day?"

"I could ask you the same question," she answered, already eyeing the waving arm of the latest Potter/Abbot attempting to claim her attention.

At the tent where the ceremony would take place, there was already a slow trickle of guests requesting entrance. The boys seemed to be holding things together well, but they could see Edgar dropping caterpillars into a vase full of red roses next to the tent, evidently hoping that they would eat through the petals. James and Lily watched them for a moment, until she looked over, smiling, and re-claimed his eyes. "But if we keep moving, at least we won't feel it."

James chuckled, and watched her jog away before running toward the entrance to the tent, barely missing the vase of roses and caterpillars on the way to his place.


	3. Chapter 3

"Sorry about the wait, guys

Chapter 3

"Sorry about the wait, guys." James gently plied Edgar away from the nail at the base of the tent flap that he was trying to uproot and stood next to Sirius. He waved off Remus' grateful eye-contact from the other side of the entrance, then reached into his pocket and slipped Edgar the Snitch that he'd found before running into Lily.

"That should keep him occupied for a while." He muttered to Sirius.

"You're a genius," Remus added. James smiled.

"Coming from you, Moony, that means a lot."

"So, is that why you were in the house so long?" Sirius asked, once the boys had escorted around five new guests inside. "Looking for a Snitch?"

James cleared his throat. "Well, yes and no."

"Ran into Lily?" Remus asked, sounding a bit like he was completing the statement, "two plus two is four." James decided to ignore the tone.

"Literally," He answered. "Collided in the hallway." James barely managed to hide a sudden jolt as Sirius laughed a little too close to his left ear.

"Brilliant," Sirius shook his head and smiled. At least he was enjoying himself.

"I'm sorry," James repeated as another stab of irrational guilt assaulted him.

"Don't be," they both said at once.

"Lily has been living here for almost a week," Sirius continued, "And how often have you seen her?"

"We've both been incredibly busy—" James began.

"—Precisely," Remus answered.

"It would drive me crazy," Sirius said.

"And maybe it has… a little," James admitted. "But I should like to think I'm more mature than to let that bother me."

"Evidently, you are." Remus said.

"You know," Sirius continued after three more guests were successfully seated. "If you want, you could go back up. We'll hold things together here."

"There can't be many more," James muttered, watching a middle-aged woman and two teenage girls, dressed in floor-length formals, struggle awkwardly toward them. "Emma said this was going to be a small wedding."

He kept his eyes on the group and wondered if it would be inappropriate to offer his arm to the girl on the left: she was using her mother's shoulder for support with every other step. It took five seconds of silence for James to realize that Sirius had spoken.

"Pardon?"

Sirius smiled. "Go back up and find Lily; we'll handle things."

"Thanks, mate, but I shouldn't," James answered. "My post is here."

After another five seconds of observing the struggle, James decided that it was worth the risk of impropriety. He left Sirius to watch Edgar, trying to ignore the vague unease in his stomach over that decision, and left to offer an arm to the one pulling her left heel out of a crack in the soil with both hands.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Emma and Aaron sat off to the side of the room and watched their guests dance. Aaron fingered the ends of his wife's hair absently as she rubbed a tight muscle in her left foot.

"Who are you looking at?" she asked quietly. Aaron gestured toward the couple in question and Emma followed his gaze. James and Lily were surrounded by other couples spinning around the floor. Their eyes stayed on each other. James whispered something in Lily's ear. She laughed and hugged him a little closer. Emma and Aaron looked away quickly after watching James lightly kiss Lily's mouth.

"We really shouldn't be watching this," Emma smiled as she spoke to the floor.

"No, we shouldn't." Aaron chuckled, "but we won't tell them."

"Not yet, no…but it might make a nice story for a toast someday." Aaron raised an eyebrow at his wife and she laughed. "I'm just thinking ahead."

Aaron smiled and kissed her temple.

"We do owe them a bit for today," Emma observed after a moment. Aaron glanced back at them, and then looked over at her.

"We'll repay them when the time comes."


End file.
